Jamshedpur vulnerable to gas leak disasters: NDRF

Survey finds most companies in and around the city have no safety or mitigation plans

After the revelation, the National Disaster Response Force has proposed setting up of an emergency control room and disaster management centre in the steel city. (HT File)

A survey conducted by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) in September found Jamshedpur vulnerable to gas leak disasters, with most companies in and around the city having no safety plans and/or mitigation systems in place for such exigencies.

In wake of this revelation, the NDRF has proposed setting up of an emergency control room and disaster management centre in the steel city, submitting a building plan and design for the same to the Jharkhand government.

“During our survey, held between September 13 and 23, we found most companies located in and around Jamshedpur have neither safety plans nor any disaster mitigation plans for dealing, responding and mitigating the impact of gas leakage disasters. There is also a serious lack of awareness among the people and other organisations on the dos and don’ts in such situation,” NDRF deputy commandant KK Jha told HT, in a telephonic conversation from Delhi.

Jha said some companies like Tata Motors or Tata Power had a safety and disaster mitigation plan for gas leaks within the company premises but most other companies didn’t have even that.

“It’s dangerous, with many companies having gas holders and extensive use of carbon monoxide, blast furnace (BF) gas, ammonia and other deadly gases. It’s in this backdrop that we have proposed to set up an emergency control and monitoring centre here. We’ve also submitted a design and building plan based on the Gujarat model to the state government,” said Jha.

He said that the NDRF has also shown the design and layout to East Singhbhum deputy commissioner (DC) Amit Kumar, detailing the land requirement. “We’re told that `1.30 crore has been sanctioned for the Jamshedpur disaster management centre,” he said.

The proposed centre will collect information about all kind of disasters from national, international and local levels through TV, internet and telephone.

It will also have a list of resources and logistics available to tackle disasters. All control rooms across the country are connected through communication and computer networks.